Solved Vista x64, System Crashes when Idle, performs chkdsk after every crash.

Lediv

Member
Hello, folks... In my efforts to finally see if there's anything I can do to save my poor computer, I've come here.

About 8 months back my PC suffered a bit of a tumble (Desk broke.. What rotten luck.) It took a good hit to the case, and while I opened it up and checked, nothing looked to be dislodged or out of place. I put the PC back into service the same day, and it was making strange noises at boot-up. The noises stopped after a second or two, and it proceeded to boot just fine. However, as the months have gone on, worsening problems have become apparent. The most recent problems (last month or two) is that if I shut it down, sometimes it does not boot correctly, and auto-restarts itself until it can boot properly. Progressing from that I decided to start leaving the machine on full time, since I was unsure if the next boot would be its last. Well, power failures happen, and it has had a few forced restarts since then, each making the strange noises for a short while until it boots.

Lately, however, it has taken to locking up whenever the computer sits idle for too long. I checked to see if perhaps any of my Norton anti-virus tools might be causing idle-time lockups, but as they are all disabled this s rather unlikely. So I took to leaving a program run in full screen mode whenever I had to be idle, or away from my machine. This seemed to help for about a week or so, but has recently stopped preventing lockups.

A few other PC-Savy friends have suggested that my PC might be experiencing a hard drive failure, and I am wondering if this is the case, and if so, if there is anything I can do to prolong the life of my machine, as money is far too tight to replace parts, or buy a new machine.

Thank you, I eagerly await a response if possible
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core 2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz 2.33GHz
    Memory
    6.0 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 4550
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 AOC Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
Hi.

Is is a laptop or a desktop?

Is there a disc in the disc drive?

Do you get any specific errors?


Answer these and i can better assist you.

a 500GB Sata HDD is about 40$ on eBay (New of course, i ordered one for my EeePC)
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Windows Vista Business x64
Hi.

Is is a laptop or a desktop?

Is there a disc in the disc drive?

Do you get any specific errors?


Answer these and i can better assist you.

a 500GB Sata HDD is about 40$ on eBay (New of course, i ordered one for my EeePC)

Firstly, Thank you for your reply! The machine is a Dell XPS 420 Desktop. There are no disks in the drives, and there are no BSoD errors, just complete windows lockups, followed by needing to hard-restart (hold power button until the machine shuts off.. Turn it back on.) which trigger a ChkDsk of C drive. A friend who works in the IT field said he believes from what I told him that the problem is a failing hard drive, and that there's no real solution (other than buying a new HD)but to not use the PC, which isn't really an option.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core 2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz 2.33GHz
    Memory
    6.0 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 4550
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 AOC Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
Your Welcome!

This has helped. We are getting closer to the root of the problem.

Have you tried Safe Mode, and Safe Mode with Networking? If it works in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking, then the Hard Drive is fine, but we may need to troubleshoot OS based lockups.

If it doesn't work in Safe Mode and is having the problem you described we should still try to troubleshoot OS based lockups, before considering replacing the Hard Drive.

Do lockups happen after a specific time after it boots? Do they happen when you run a specific program(s)?

If you can get into Windows, try this utility and if it works please post a screenshot of the results. Link: http://www.passmark.com/ftp/diskcheckup.exe

Best of Luck :)

Josh
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Windows Vista Business x64
Your Welcome!

This has helped. We are getting closer to the root of the problem.

Have you tried Safe Mode, and Safe Mode with Networking? If it works in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking, then the Hard Drive is fine, but we may need to troubleshoot OS based lockups.

If it doesn't work in Safe Mode and is having the problem you described we should still try to troubleshoot OS based lockups, before considering replacing the Hard Drive.

Do lockups happen after a specific time after it boots? Do they happen when you run a specific program(s)?

If you can get into Windows, try this utility and if it works please post a screenshot of the results. Link: http://www.passmark.com/ftp/diskcheckup.exe

Best of Luck :)

Josh

It's hard to pinpoint the issue with Safe Mode/Safe Mode with Networking, because the PC operates normally for hours at a time, running all sorts of programs without any issue. Sometimes it just randomly locks up though, and something that locks it up one time won't after a restart. In addition, it seems to lock up randomly when idle for long periods of time (More than 2 hours.) Sometimes I can let it run for a couple of days fine, others it locks up every night.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core 2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz 2.33GHz
    Memory
    6.0 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 4550
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 AOC Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
Ok.

Have you tried Disk Checkup? (In my earlier post)

I know from experience when the Hard Drive stops responding because of an error, or because the data plug was removed from the system board, or the HDD, the system locks up. Check to make sure the data cable (SATA or IDE) of the HDD is correctly plugged into the HDD and into the motherboard. If you could fill out your system specs on your profile page, it would help.

Hope this helps :)

Josh
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Windows Vista Business x64
*** DiskCheckup V3.2 Build: 1000 Report ***

SysInfo DLL Version: SysInfo v1.0 Build: 1041
Time of export: 12:09:53 19-Aug-2014

Device information:
Device ID: 0
Interface: ATA
Device Capacity: 610477 MB
Serial Number: WD-WMASY5872737
Model Number: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B2
Firmware Revision: 01.03B01
Partitions:
C: 595055 MB
D: 15359 MB

ATA information:

Disk geometry:
Cylinders: 77825
Tracks/Cylinder: 255
Sectors/Track: 63
Bytes/Sector: 512
Total disk sectors: 1250263728
Logical sector size: 512
Physical sector size: 512
Media rotation rate: N/A
Buffer size: 16384 KB
ECC size: 50 Bytes

Standards compliance:
ATA8-ACS Supported: Yes
ATA/ATAPI-7 Supported: Yes
ATA/ATAPI-6 Supported: Yes
ATA/ATAPI-5 Supported: Yes
ATA/ATAPI-4 Supported: Yes
Serial/Parallel: Serial
SATA 3.0 Compilance: No
SATA 2.6 Compilance: No
SATA 2.5 Compilance: Yes
SATA II: Ext Compilance: Yes
SATA 1.0a Compilance: Yes
ATA8-AST Compilance: No
World Wide ID: 50014EE0010542EC

Feature support:
SMART supported: Yes
SMART enabled: Yes
SMART self-test supported: Yes
SMART error log supported: Yes
LBA supported: Yes
IORDY supported: Yes
CFast supported: No
DMA supported: Yes
Maximum Multiword DMA mode supported: 2
Multiword DMA selected: None
Maximum UltraDMA mode supported: 6
UltraDMA selected: 6
Maximum PIO mode supported: 4
SATA Compliance: Yes
NCQ priority information supported: No
Unload while NCQ commands are outstanding supported: No
Phy Event Counters supported: Yes
Receipt of power management requests supported: Yes
NCQ feature set supported: Yes
SATA Gen2 Signaling Speed (3.0Gb/s) supported: Yes
SATA Gen1 Signaling Speed (1.5Gb/s) supported: Yes
Software Settings Preservation: Supported, Enabled
In-order data delivery: Not supported
Initiating power management: Supported, Disabled
DMA Setup auto-activation: Supported, Enabled
Non-zero buffer offsets: Not supported
Trusted Computing supported: No
Host Protected Area (HPA) supported: Yes
Read look-ahead supported: Yes
Read look-ahead enabled: Yes
Write cache supported: Yes
Write cache enabled: Yes
Power management supported: Yes
Security mode supported: Yes
Security mode enabled: No
Device Configuration Overlay (DCO) supported: Yes
48bit Addressing supported: Yes
Auto Acoustic Managment (AAM) supported: Yes
Auto Acoustic Managment (AAM) enabled: Yes
Recommended AAM level: Minimum acoustic emanation level
Current AAM level: Minimum acoustic emanation level
Power-up in Standby (PUIS) supported: Yes
Power-up in Standby (PUIS) enabled: No
Advanced Power Management (APM) supported: No
CompactFlash Association (CFA) supported: No
General Purpose Logging (GPL) supported: Yes
Streaming supported: No
Media card pass through supported: No
Extended power conditions supported: No
Extended status reporting supported: No
Write-read-verify supported: No
Free-fall control supported: No
TRIM command supported: No
SCT command transport supported: Yes
NV Cache enabled: No
NV Cache Power Management supported: No

Not sure if this is what you wanted or not, was a little unsure of what to look for. As far as checking the physical connections, what would I be looking for? The inside of my case is a great deal of bundled wires and hoopla, and I'm not sure what goes to where or what part is what.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core 2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz 2.33GHz
    Memory
    6.0 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 4550
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 AOC Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
That is right

I now know what type of hard drive you have.

To check the connectors.

Find the Hard Drive (Usually at the front of the case, under the DVD drive) there should be two plugs. Make sure they are tightly plugged into the harddrive. The sata cable clicks into place, while the Sata Power DOES NOT click into place, it needs to be tight in the harddrive. (Power may also look slightly different if it is molex 4pin, it still does not click into place, and needs to be tight)

sata-hdd.jpgColors and style of cables may vary


The smaller cable should be plugged tightly into the motherboard.

SATA.jpg

The larger one goes to the power supply, do not worry about that connection, as long as it is tight in the harddrive


Hope this helps :)

Josh
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Windows Vista Business x64
I'll be sure to have a look next time the machine locks, and must be powered down. I'll let you know the result of the inspection! Thank you very much for your patient support thus far.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core 2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz 2.33GHz
    Memory
    6.0 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 4550
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 AOC Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
No problem ;)


Actually, you can check the connections anytime. It won't make a difference.

If I have helped you at all, please click the thumbs up button in the lower left corner of my post. Thank You

Best of Luck :)

Josh
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Windows Vista Business x64
No problem ;)


Actually, you can check the connections anytime. It won't make a difference.

If I have helped you at all, please click the thumbs up button in the lower left corner of my post. Thank You

Best of Luck :)

Josh

I checked my connections (all of them throughout the entire machine) and everything was securely fastened in place, except for a few unused hookups for extra drives presumably. I also cleaned the case out with compressed air, including the fans and such. Unfortunately this did not resolve the freezing error, as I woke to a locked up screensaver (and thus, computer) again this morning.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core 2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz 2.33GHz
    Memory
    6.0 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 4550
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 AOC Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
Ok. Well all the hardware seems ok, then I would try to do a system restore to before the problem happened.
if that doesn't work, then I would back up all your files, and reinstall your operation system.

If the lockups still happen after that. You need to replace your hard drive. (It probaldly has bad sectors)


Best of luck :)

Josh
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Windows Vista Business x64
I'll give those things a try, and if none of them work, it'll be time to start saving up to replace the HD. Thank you so much for your help, gladly giving you a thumbs up on the little button. Keep up the great work!
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core 2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33GHz 2.33GHz
    Memory
    6.0 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon HD 4550
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 AOC Monitor
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
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